New York Times of November 26, 1925
“1,800-SEAT THEATRE FOR UTICA AVENUE; A. Brody, Builder, Sells Crown St. Corner for $75,000.

A. Brody, builder, sold the northeast corner of Utica Avenue and Crown Street, being 140 feet on Utica Avenue by 100 feet on Crown Street, to the N. R. Theatres, Inc., which will improve with a theatre to contain 1,800 seats, with stores, facing on Utica Avenue"

I was thinking the same thing while looking at your photos, Ken. The marquee probably appeared abnormally higher than most on the Utica Ave frontage due to the way the street slopes up towards the corner. I can’t imagine the underside of the canopy lining up any lower than about where the sills of those new windows above the current entrance are located. I also assume that the original entryway was partially bricked over and replaced by the set of five gated doors we now see. I would think that, as a theater, there’d have been a much wider point of entry perhaps with a recessed vestibule. But, I’m just guessing. The introductory comments do mention that the marquee was “unusual”.

Anyway… Now that we’ve identified the theater, I moved the images around in my photobucket album (to a Carroll Theater folder – where I also poached your pair of shots, Ken, if you don’t mind) and so the links I posted above will no longer work. Here are updated links for the photos:

WOW! I doubt we would ever have solved this mystery from ‘memories’ and would have been speculating and going around in circles for years. I am pleased I ‘made your week’ Ed!

Glad to have helped with my photo’s. I agree with Lost Memory regarding the black mark next to the third circle from the right and further proof is that I have gone back to the original of my second photo I posted and looking at it on a full screen, there is also another black mark located just to the right of the second circle from the right. This too can be seen in the ‘Always Air Conditioned’ photo. These marks are acually the remains of metal support brackets in the facade (possibly where the theatre ‘name. sign was fixed).

Again looking at the ‘Always Air Conditioned’ photo, you can now see where the curve in the marquee begins to gently wrap around the corner of the building. One unusual aspect of this marquee, in my estimation, is that it was placed rather high up on the facade over the entrance!

I have a pair of photos that I know are of a Brooklyn theater taken some time in the late 1980’s. The photos are tightly cropped marquee shots that reveal very little of the facade. The photographer is Matt Weber, who has a website chock full of B&W NYC street scene images – including a few shots in decaying Times Square and other bits of “crumbling New York”, as he calls it.

Be that as it may, a number of us here on CT have been trying to identify the theater depicted in the photos. I’d ask Matt for the location, but it seems he just lost himself in Brooklyn the day he snapped these photos and has no specific recollection about where exactly he was. The little that can be seen of the facade looks very much like the former Carroll Theater depicted in your photos… Here they are:

Lost….? Warren…? What do you guys think? I didn’t figure the marquee for a corner entrance, but now that I look at the images again, I do believe that there is the indication of the canopy angling around a corner in both shots! Initially, I just thought the marquee was badly battered (which it is, of course, but just not to the extent I first assumed). I think we have a winner, folks.